When the snow falls
by f.f. lindy
Summary: Mulder and Scully get trapped


Title: When the snow falls  
  
Author: f.f.lindy  
  
Date: 3/02  
  
Rating: G, one kiss, no porn.  
  
Disclaimer: they aren't mine, they haven't been and never will be mine, and I'm getting sick of writing disclaimers.  
  
Feedback: I print it all out and dance around the kitchen with glee, then I respond to it and am happy for a few days.  
  
Archiving: Please! (and if you want to be even nicer drop me a note so that I can visit and dance around the kitchen more)  
  
Authors notes: This is in response to the March Challenge put out at the MSR fanfic cheerleaders group (at least I'm 90% sure it was there, either that or the MSR fic writers group. I never actually think about where the e- mail is coming from, I just read them) This is the first challenge I've ever done, so if it feels to forced sent me an e-mail and bitch at me. I'll be happy some one read my fic I won't even care if it's not nice.  
  
We were headed out to a case in Montana in the middle of winter. It was so cold that we could see our breath inside the car. The heater in the pathetic excuse for a car we had been issued at the airport didn't work. I was wearing the warmest coat I could wear while I drove. Luckily Scully had brought plenty of warm clothes along with her, I was worried that she was colder than I was. Her tiny little body couldn't stay as warm as mine. I was worried she would get sick. I knew that saying something like that would get me a bullet in the ass, and that's if I was lucky. So, I kept my mouth shut and looked over at her. She was rocking back and forth slightly in the cold, and blinked frequently. I did it too, not realizing how cold my eyes were until they were covered by my eyelids. Had I not been driving I would have closed them for longer. I yawned and kept driving. Scully hadn't said a word to me since 10 minutes after we left the airport. I saw an exit sign on the side of the road. The first services we'd come across in a while in the rather uninhabited area we had to drive though to get the tiny town where Skinner had sent us on the case. "Do you want to stop for a cup of coffee or something?" I asked her.  
  
"Sure," she said. I could tell that she was trying very hard to hide how cold she was. I pulled off at the exit and drove around in the tiny town for a little while. I saw a 24-hour diner and pulled into the parking lot. We both hobbled out of the car and into the diner. We each ordered a cup of coffee and looked at the menu. "I haven't been in a diner at midnight since college. My boyfriend, Jeremy, used to pick me up from the lab, where I'd be working all night, and take me out to get something to eat." I was suddenly filled with jealously. I didn't want to hear about her old boyfriends. I couldn't stand to hear about what she'd done with other guys, I wanted her too bad.  
  
"That brings back memories. I used to go out with the guys after a long night."  
  
"A long night of what?" she asked jokingly.  
  
"Well, we weren't smoking pot, that's for sure." I told her. She laughed and my heart soared.  
  
"What are you going to have?" she asked. "I always used to get pie a la mode. Jeremy always got a burger."  
  
I again felt bitterness. I wished she didn't talk about old boyfriends. I would rather spoon my eyes out with the spoon in my table setting than listen as the woman I loved talk about old boyfriends. "I think I'm going to get waffles. I mean what's better at one o'clock in the morning in Montana when it's cold outside than waffles?"  
  
"I think I'm going to try the chocolate cake, chocolate never hurts."  
  
So we ordered our selections from the waitress. She was wearing a coat over her uniform and looked as freezing as we had been in the car. It was cold, but not nearly as bad as it had been in the car. Outside the snow had started up again, and was piling high quickly. We enjoyed our food, and I could tell that Scully was feeling better after eating the cake, and I have to admit the waffles did taste good. We had been so wrapped up in the food and each other we hadn't paid any attention to the snow outside. When we walked out the door after paying the bill we realized the car was not going to move, and even if it did there wasn't a clear road to drive it on.  
  
We went back into the diner. "Do you think a snow plow will be coming by here any time soon?" I asked the waitress.  
  
"Is it already piled up out there? I guess it has been snowing pretty hard."  
  
"Yeah, we're pretty well stuck here until the plow comes. When do you think that will be?" I asked again.  
  
"Well, when he can get out he comes by here at 6 or so, but if the snow keeps up like this I doubt he'll even be able to get out of the house."  
  
"Six? It's," I looked at my watch, "It's only 2. Are you saying we're stuck here for four hours?"  
  
"Looks that way," she sighed. "I guess we'll have some time to get to know each other."  
  
"I guess so." Scully smiled exhaustedly.  
  
"Let me guess," the waitress said, "You two visiting family here in Montana, you're from some big city, and you're parents retired here," she pointed to Scully. "You're bringing the boyfriend home to meet them."  
  
"Actually," she smiled politely, "we work together. We're here on business."  
  
"Oh, well, I can tell you're close. You're close right? The way you sat there while you ate, I could just tell," I could tell how embarrassed she was.  
  
"What about you? How did you end up here?" Scully asked the waitress.  
  
"I was born here, just like my parents. I got a job here while I was in high school. I've been here ever since." The waitress didn't seem satisfied, I felt bad for her for a minute, as if I were here flaunting my success before her. I could only imagine how Scully must have felt. A woman about her age, but Scully was going places, well she had been before she met me. Scully was a woman that took care of herself and had a chance to do something with her life, and there she was talking to a waitress who had been at the same job for 15 years, and would probably be there doing the same job 15 years from now. "But, I'm happy, and when the day's over I have a family to go home to."  
  
"They make you work the swing shift even though you've been here since high school and you have a family at home?" Scully asked, shocked.  
  
"Well, all the kids that waitress have this flu that's going around. Sending them to school you might as well be locking them in a cabinet with it. Both my kids had it last week. I took so much time off with them I had to ask for these extra hours."  
  
"How old are your kids?" Scully asked, she sounded genuinely interested.  
  
"They're 5 and 7. Do you want to see pictures?"  
  
"I'd love to."  
  
The waitress went into the kitchen in the back and got her purse. In her wallet she had whole section of pictures of her two children. "This is Susan," she pointed to a little girl in one of the pictures, "and this is Steven."  
  
"They're adorable," Scully sighed. For a moment I thought that I detected a hint of jealously in her voice.  
  
"Do you have any of your own?" The waitress asked.  
  
"No, I'm not even married. I guess you could say work is my life." Scully sighed.  
  
That was when she noticed that I was sitting there staring off into space. "I'm sorry sir, I guess you must be bored by all this woman talk, kids and things," I saw Scully's face drop a tiny bit as the words rolled off the waitresses tongue. "I'm sorry. I never even caught your name."  
  
"Mulder," I said.  
  
"Mulder? What an unusual name."  
  
"Well, actually it's Fox. I just go by Mulder, my last name." I explained.  
  
"Oh, I'm Sylvia, by the way."  
  
"And I'm Dana."  
  
We talked about a little bit of everything for an hour. Eventually I lost interest in the conversation and wanted to find some new entertainment. There was a machine next to the door that sold trinkets in plastic balls. I got change for a five dollar bill and had it put into quarters. With 20 quarters in my hand I sat down on the ground next the machine while Scully and Sylvia talked. I won a piece of candy first, then a plastic key chain, and a sticky hand that would have given any child hours and hours of fun, and I was not too much different than a child. I set it aside and continued to pump quarters into the machine. I ended up with more candy, a couple press on tattoos, a purple rope bracelet, a bouncy ball, a tiny deck of cards, a little plastic ring, and a few other random little things. I brought the deck of cards over to the table where the two women sat. "Anyone up for some crazy eights?" I asked.  
  
"It's three o'clock in the morning, Mulder," Scully sighed.  
  
"Well, are we planning on sleeping?" I asked, playing with the sticky hand. I bounced it off the table we were sitting at.  
  
"It's too cold to sleep," she whined.  
  
"I'll keep you warm," I offered suggestively.  
  
"Alright Mulder, you deal, Crazy Eights it is. Sylvia are you in?"  
  
"I'm going to go check on Joe, the cook. I haven't heard a sound from the kitchen in an hour." She stood up and walked out of the dining area.  
  
"Well, now that she's gone how about we try STRIP crazy eights?" She gave me a look and I dealt the little tiny cards.  
  
It was about half and hour later that Scully was leaning on me just to stay sitting up in the booth. "God it's cold," she sighed. I wrapped an arm around her.  
  
Sylvia walked back into the room. "I'm going to go to sleep for a few hours. These booths shouldn't be too bad to sleep on." She walked to the opposite corner of the restaurant and sat down. "Should I turn off the lights?"  
  
"I think that'd be fine, thanks," I smiled. I leaned down on the seat we had been sitting on. Scully, who was 95 percent of the way asleep slugged on to me, not resisting at all. "Good night, Scully," I whispered.  
  
"I love you," she mumbled back. I knew that she wouldn't remember saying it in the morning, but I smiled at the thought. I wrapped my arms tighter around her, trying to protect her from the cold night. She snuggled in to me. The lights went out.  
  
2 hours later I felt movement and it pulled me from my much needed sleep. Scully was awake. When I opened my eyes I saw her trying to wiggle out of my arms without waking me. "I'm sorry Mulder," she whispered. "I didn't mean to wake you."  
  
"Don't worry about it. Where are you going?"  
  
"I'm going to go sleep on another seat," she explained.  
  
"But this one is already warm. Come on Scully, come back here." I opened my arms.  
  
"I really don't think." she began to make excuses.  
  
"What you want a ring before you'll sleep with me?" I asked jokingly.  
  
"I guess that's a rule I could consider." She smiled.  
  
I reached up on to the table and picked up another one of the little plastic balls. I shook a few of them before I found what I was looking for. I opened the ball and produced a ring. "Come here Scully." I asked her.  
  
"Mulder you cannot be serious."  
  
"Marry me," I said soberly.  
  
"If it means we get to cuddle for the rest of the night, I suppose I have no choice." I smiled back at her and slipped the ring on her left hand, adjusting the pliable metal to fit her finger. She lay down beside me on the cushioned bench and I held her close. I pressed a tiny kiss on her neck. "Did you just kiss me?" she asked in a voice even tinier than her whispers had been.  
  
"Hey, I can't even kiss my fiancée good night?" I teased.  
  
"In that case," she said rolling over to face me. She smashed her lips on to mine and willed my mouth open. She made soft noises as we kissed. I love this woman, was the only thought running through my mind. When we broke apart I saw her smile. "Good night."  
  
"I love you," I said quietly. "I really do. I don't just want you tonight. I want you every night. I'll buy you a real ring. I'll do anything you want. I just love you, and I don't ever want you to forget that." I was scared out of my mind but tired enough to be a slightly unaware of what I was saying.  
  
"I'll never forget Mulder. I love you too much," she whispered into my ear. I felt a weight lift off my shoulders and I held her closer. She sighed lightly and snuggled into my chest.  
  
END  
  
The challenge: 1. M&S on case 2. Somehow get stranded w/ no way of getting home 3. They haven't old each other their feelings 4. M is jealous of a reference to a past boyfriend 5. Rain or snow storm 6. Snuggling together for warmth 7. Telling each other their feelings 


End file.
